With unsteady hands, Tahlia wiped away the small beads of perspiration that had indistinctly formed on her skin.

It confused her a bit, how one could possibly sweat in the middle of this chilly Westfield transitional weather, the warmth in the room outweighing the otherwise freezing atmosphere.

And then she saw him.

That's when it clicked;

he made the difference.

It had to be him, his presence solely responsible for sending the embers of the fire sizzling, fostering heat in the cold undercurrents.

He was lying on his stomach, hair pooling all over the pillow, concealing his face. While he had the blue sanatorium pants on, his upper body was unmistakably bare.

Tahlia took one step forward, grippingly.

Her eyes were met with various little swirls of dusky amber that ran all along his back, branching into obscurity. Some of it was deeper in hue, some if it was closer to his skin color, almost going unnoticeable. Almost.

She'd almost forgotten he was scarred.

"You know, I could get used to waking up like this."

Tahlia flinched in her position, the sound of the raspy voice having startled her unforeseen.

She involuntarily pranced backwards, as the body in front of her slowly started coming back to life.

He rose, as gracefully as all those heroes in the movies did— undaunted and supreme.

But this wasn't the movies, it was an insane asylum.

He ought not to be so perfect.

Tahlia had already anticipated the smirk that adorned his lips as he turned to face her.

"Looking for something Natalia?" He teased.

She turned her head away in horror, realizing she'd been caught staring at him like a creep all this time.

She turned her gaze back only when she heard him chuckle lightly. She was met with the sight of his back once again, as he put on a shirt, just like the movies.

She watched as the now-familiar blue cloth replaced the sight of the burn scars.

After his long fingers were done straightening the shirt out, he swerved back, slowly taking his seat at the desk.

The nurse, who she'd almost even forgotten was there with her, walked up to him, wordlessly cuffing him to the desk per usual.

All while he kept looking into her eyes.

Tahlia sat down mimicking his actions, her mind not able to process independent basic thought, it seemed.

"Good eveni—"

"Are you wearing perfume, Natalia?" He interjected, his tone holding amusement.

Tahlia was taken aback by his sudden revelation.

Well, she'd expected for him to notice at one point or another, but she'd never given a thought to what she'd say, lest she was confronted.

With a slight flush of the cheeks, she began.

"Yes..I-I always do, Mr. Hunt."

His grin only broadened.

"Lies, Natalia, all lies."

He drew himself closer, leaning more into the table, "Is that lipstick you're wearing, Natalia?"

Tahlia unthinkingly sunk her teeth into the bottom lip softly.

Of course he has noticed.

Tahlia internally cursed at herself for even doing this.

For putting her hair into an intricate braid she'd looked up online. For wearing a dress that had been lying in the back of her closet for years. For putting on makeup to hide the evidence of her sleepless nights, making her cheeks and lips more rosy.

"You sure are something Natalia Meyers."

She glimpsed into his eyes for a second, the blue in them drowning her into the deep ocean abyss in a breath.

What is happening to me?

Her mind whirled.

In an attempt to not make this anymore awkward than it was, Tahlia cleared her throat. Awkwardly.

"We should start with the questions."

"Yes, we should." Logan drew back into his seat, hunter like eyes never leaving hers,

"Do you ever get nightmares?"

She let out an exasperated breath, shaking her head. "I thought we were over this Mr. Hunt."

He grinned without uttering a word, eyes raking along her every move.

She relented. "Not really, no."

She half expected Logan to see through her blatant lie in an instant, but he didn't. Instead, he heaved a small sigh.

"I do." He turned his head away, his gaze settling on his metal bound hands.

"I think they tell me about who I am."

And just like that, the curiosity to solve this puzzle, was back and raging in Tahlia.

"W-what do you see?" Her voice came out raspier than she'd presumed.

"Fire." He blinked, as if though, in a daze, "I see fire. I hear people screaming."

Tahlia glanced at the time, half tempted to move on from that topic, as she opened her file with the intent of getting answers for the standardized questions.

But she couldn't. Not after what she'd just discovered.

She took a deep breath, "Is that how you got those..those scars?"

A muscle in his jaw ridged, "I don't know, maybe. I had them when I woke up in the hospital."

Tahlia looked at him, blinking a few times in sheer confusion, "What hosp–"

"My turn." Smoothly cutting her off, he drummed his fingers on the table, his electric eyes finally connecting with Tahlia's.

"Why are you wearing that dress?"

Tahlia's mind began scrutinizing her heart's irrational decision to not look worn out for once. For someone.

"I knew it. I look silly, don't I?" She mumbled to herself, dropping her gaze to down on her lap.

She knew she shouldn't have. She prepared herself to be taunted for this, for the rest of her time in this place.

"You look exquisite, like always. That dress appears more divine on you."

Her cheeks blazed up.

She was thankful to be not looking into his eyes at that moment, because help her Lord, if she glanced at Logan Hunt at that moment, she would lose herself without a doubt.

She peered up slowly, and of course, was met with the sight of his piercing eyes, deep in thought it seemed.

What could he possibly be thinking about all the time, looking at her?

Probably plotting your death, spoke her subconscious.

It wasn't a thought foreign to Tahlia.

What was stopping a brutal killer from reaching over the table and snapping her neck with his bare two hands?

Not trying to pay much attention to her mouth suddenly going dry, she took a second to collect herself before moving along with a question doing rounds in her mind.

"Do you remember where you grew up?"

Logan said nothing. He continued to gaze at her silently, his fingers tracing obscure patterns on the surface of the desk.

"Don't you remember anything familiar about this place!? Or anywhere else? Anything at all?" Her tone came out louder, more harsher than she had intended to.

His fingers ceased the motion all of a sudden.

She almost clutched her eyes shut in the fear of him flipping the table or reaching over to break her neck.

But Logan Hunt did the last thing Tahlia could reckon he'd do in that predicament.

He smiled.

"They're not all nightmares, you know." He then looked away, his eyes flickering to one of the ceiling lights up above.

Was he even listening to me?, Tahlia wondered.

"Sometimes I see this..this white horse. She was beautiful. I'll scream for her to stop, calling her Sadie. She wouldn't, she moved with the wind."

With that, his smile was beaming.

The light shone down on his flawless face, forming a luminous halo all around him.

Logan looked otherworldly.

His smile felt ethereal to Tahlia. One of the few things that made him look real at the same time.

There weren't a lot of things to him like that, but Tahlia was on a hunt to find them all whenever she could.

Trying to make him seem real.

Trying to humanize him, as much as she could.

And with what he'd told her today, she couldn't help but empathize with the man who himself wasn't capable of empathy.

"I.." She began gingerly, feeling Logan's complete attention on her now.

"I used to get them too."

A hint of anxiousness caved into her lungs at the mere thought, but she continued nevertheless,

"Nightmares, I mean."

She looked away, to nowhere in particular.

"I would get them every day, until I was seventeen. I would wake up in the middle of the night, screaming because—"

She cut herself off, her eyes brimming with moisture.

Logan said nothing to her.

Of course, why would he.

Blinking away rapidly and clearing her throat, Tahlia turned to him again.

"Your parents. What happened to your parents? They must have looked for you?" Tahlia had only just begun when Logan glimpsed at her, his eyes burning with an intense look deep inside.

"That's two questions in a row."

He simply stated, but it was as obvious as a blank paper to Tahlia, that there was more to it. But she decided to not light the fuse to the ticking time bomb that was Logan Hunt.

He leaned in, with the intent of a fervid being.

"Cats or dogs?"

Tahlia almost fell out of her chair.

Did I hear that right?

She opened her mouth, only to close it again. Was the infamous Westfield Ripper, in all seriousness asking her if she was a cat person or a dog person?

Logan raised an eyebrow, "Well?"

If Tahlia was beyond for words before, it didn't come close to her predicament now. Apprehensively, she spoke.

"Dogs." She paused, still not convinced, "Why do you want to ask that?"

"Call it curiosity." He wet his lips, "Come on now Natalia, you don't expect me to ask things like 'what is your preferred weapon to kill', now do you? That's awfully judgmental."

Tahlia frowned immediately, "I'm not judgmental. I just..I didn't expect that."

There it was again, that damned, beautiful smirk back on his lips.

"Not a lot of expected things do happen in life, you see. It's what you never see coming, that grips you in it's clutches."

And before Tahlia had the time to fully process the weight those words held, Logan Hunt rose in his place, leaning forwards on the desk.

She barely even felt his face inching closer towards her.

She stilled.

The button. The button, Her mind yelled, but at that moment, she found body incapable of voluntary movement.

They looked at each other, no words being spoken, only the sound of Tahlia's shaky breath interspersing with the silence once in a while.

One's gaze was confident, like a predator; while the other's was startled, like a gazelle caught in a trap.

It was more or less the same.

He leaned in closer, his stare dropping down to her lips. Tahlia's tongue darted out to wet the dry surface unknowingly.

"What are you doing to me Natalia Meyers?" He whispered.

Tahlia's whole world was quickly doing a 180° turn, and it was too much.

Only when the door opened with a loud creak, did Tahlia pull back, but Logan never once moved from where he stood.

As she heard footsteps sound behind her, she knew it was time.

Disorientedly, she gathered her things from the table, almost dropping everything and tripping over nothing on her way out.

She mumbled a small goodbye, not looking at him still. She couldn't.

But as she reached the threshold, she did it.

She glanced backwards, only to find the nurse uncuffing him, as he looked away into a wall.

Then their eyes met.

It was precisely that moment, that Tahlia knew;

There was something in the air that wasn't there before.

✴✴✴

peep beauty and the beast reference

(yes, i watch the saw series AND disney movies with the same enthusiasm smh)